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UNCLASSIFIED 
a 
| (NS BULLETIN 
OF THE 


American School of Home Economics 


PUBLISHED QUARTERLY AND ENTERED AT CHICAGO AS SECOND- 
CLASS MATTER UNDER AcT oF CONGRESS OF JULY 16; 1894 


SERIES I MARCH, 1915 No. 38 
RS RE TT Na nT eee ar ond 


TWO ADDRESSES 


ON THE 


PROFESSION OF HOME MAKING 


CHICAGO: 
406 WEST SIXTY-NINTH STREET 
ILLINOIS 


EDUCATION AND LIFE 


I. 
Typical Schools 


Zi 


& 


ade Home School for Girls 


Vina 


THE NEW PROFESSION OF HOME 
* MAKING 


By Maurice Le Bosguet, S. B., 


Dean American School of Home Economics 

Address delivered at Eight Biennial of General Federation of Women’s 
Clubs. : 

I am very glad that I am not the only representative of the 
masculine sex at this meeting, for we men, cannot grant you 
that the home is all of your making even though its manage- 
ment and directing are particularly -your vocation. 

My subject — ‘‘ The New Profession of Home-Making ”’"— 
is rather a large one, but I do not have to prove here that 
home making 7s a profession, or that it may be a profession, 
or at least that it ought to bea profession. It isnot necessary 
to speak of the greatness of this profession nor to recount the 
well-worn truths of the importance of the home — the bul- 
wark of the state and of the nation; but it may, perhaps, be 
worth while to outline the content of the new Profession of 
Home-Making. 

We need only to have our mothers tell of the conditions of 
their girlhood to understand something of the rapid indus- . 
trial changes that have taken place during the last generation, 
and our grandmothers can, recall us to a: totally different 
world; so present day home making must necessarily be a. 
new profession. 

To call any work a profession implies the existence of a 
certain body of related facts, principles, or precepts — the 
inheritance of the ages — but when we begin to examine 
the province of the profession of home-making, we are ‘at’ 
once struck with the immensity of the field. As the home is- 
the unit of society, so home-making relates to alt human 
ativities. Leaving a little for the other professions, how- 
ever, it relates primarily to the /ife and health of the family. 


Laws of Life 
The study of life brings us to the great natural laws relating 
to life, that is, chemistry and physics. The profession of 
home-making certainly includes some study of these laws. 
I do not mean the chemistry of our high school days — the 


3 


chemistry of bad smells, pretty colored precipitates, vapor 
density, molecular weights, periodic laws, valence, and the 
like,— but the chemistry of living, of every day lite, of the 
substances met with about the home in cooking, cleaning, and 
care of the house. . 

The body itself is only a chemical and physical engine and 
when these forces stop, life ceases. The home-maker surely 
needs to know some of the fundamental principles of chemis- 
try,— such as that matter cannot be created nor destroyed, 
but only transformed; that pure substances are always of 
exactly the same composition, whatever their origin; that 
substances unite chemically only in certain definite propor- 
tions. For instance, in making sour milk biscuits, if more 
soda is added to the sour milk than the acid present will unite 
with, then the excess of soda is left in the biscuits. The 
home-maker needs to reaiize that with the same materials 
under exactly the same conditions, results are identical, and 
so success in cooking depends on the art of ‘he cook and not 
on ‘‘ good luck.’’ 

Bacteriology and the Home 


The whole study of life is called biology, but that part of 
the subject termed “ bacteriology ”’ is especially important 
to the home-maker for it is tne fundamental science in sani- 
tation. These minute forms affect our food and all other 
possessions, but the study is of greatest importance in under- 
standing and combatting disease. 

The home-maker needs to know that the few germs that 
are disease producing are specialists in their work, and that 
only one kind is responsible for each disease such as tubercu- 
losis, typhoid, diphtheria, etc.; that these disease germs do 
not develop spontaneously under even the most filthy con- 
ditions, in drain pipes, etc., as is popularly supposed, but 
that every case of an infectious or contagious disease comes 
from some previous case, near or remote; and is the result of 
some one’s criminal carelessness cr ignorance (for ignorance 
is not an excuse before the law). Further, that disease germs 
with few exceptions, multiply only in the human body or in 
that of some of the lower animals, as most of them require 
body temperature. They may live under various conditions, 


4 


but cleanliness and sunshine kills them all. The home-maker 
should know how these agents of death gain access to the 
body and what a fortress the body is against their attack if 
we will but man the defenses. 

I have assurance from many of our students that we have 
made these hard sounding subjects extremely interesting — 
positively enjoyable! ae ed 

The subject of household sanitation includes the study of 
the environment of the house, of the best means for ventila- 
tion, heating, lighting, the sanitary disposal of all wastes, 
water supply, modern plumbing, and sanitary care. Ven- 
tilation seems to be the most neglected part of the subject 
Although most people have a general idea that fresh air is 
desirable, it is safe to say that nine out of ten houses, even 
those of intelligent housekeepers, are not properly ventilated 
in winter. 

In a recent house hunting expedition in Chicago, we looked 
through a house, three rooms of which we could not be 
shown, because they were occupied by members of the family 
who were recovering from so-called “‘ spring-fever.”” It was 
rather late in the spring, but every window was hermetically 
sealed with a tight double window. The furnace drew its 
fresh (?) air supply from the front hall, and under the cir- 
cumstances, the illness of three members of the family was 
not surprising. 

Ventilation in winter costs money, but no house-keeper 
would think of buying food known to be adulterated and 
unhealthful even if the price were ten or even twenty per cent 
less than that of pure food. Why, then, begrudge the extra 
coal for the greater necessity — pure air? The average house- 
wife is very dainty about many things, but why should she 
breathe ‘‘ second hand ”’ air without a qualm? 

Food Problems 

The question of food is, perhaps, the most important of all 
the physical problems of the home, but however good the 
raw materials, they cannot be made healthful, nutritious, 
except through the art of the cook. As Miss Barrows has 
said, *“‘ the home-maker needs to get behind the cook books 


and understand the fundamental laws which govern succes®.'s 
5 


{hen there is the question of diet. While the subject ot 
dietetics is less exact for man than for domestic animals, and 
there are many questions not yet settled by the scientists, 
the feeding of the family surely deserves as much study as the 


feeding of cattle. 
Personal Health 


The Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics has 
stated that hygiene is the chief basis of home economics. 
Personal hygiene is doubtless the most important division. 
It is true few of us live up to our present ideals of personal 
health or act on aJl the knowledge we have. What is needed 
is to raise our ideals and to realize that the reverse of the 
golden rule is true — that to ‘‘ love others as ourselves,’’ we 
‘must love curselves as we love others; that we have literally no 
right to let any duty however pressing, impair personal 
health. As Mrs. Richards has said, ‘‘ Health is the business 
of the individual, not the physician.’’ In this enlightened 
age, it is a disgrace to be ignorant of literature and history. 
I wonder when it will be considered a disgrace to be ill, for 
almost all illness is the penalty for disregarding nature’s 
laws, through ignorance, carelessness or intemperance of 
some kind. 


But with all the knowledge there is and with every care, 
we cannot avert all illness and the professional home-maker 
should understand something of nursing, for on nursing. 
more than on medicine, recovery depends. 

Home Keeping 

Then there is the question of household finance and house- 
hold management — the rock on which so many families are 
wrecked. The home-maker needs to know something about 
household accounts and to keep them, if true economy is to 
be practiced and if the expenditures of the family are to be 
made in accordance with a high “ standard of life.’’ 

Perhaps we might have begun our study of the Profession 
of Home-Making with ‘‘ The House.’ As Professor Bevier 
says, ‘‘ We all appreciate that the house is not the home as 
the body is not the spirit. Sfill, it must be a convenient 
workshop for the home industries as well as harmonious and 
artistic to be a place o1 rest and inspiration.”’ As she says 

6 


further, ‘“‘ The woman who announces that housekeeping is 

drudgery, and that she keeps as far away from it as possible. 

thus contesses that she has been unequal to her task."’ 
After food and shelter comes clothing as the third necessity 

of mankind and the profession of home-making should in- 

- clude the study of textiles and the making of clothing. 

The Profession of Motherhood 


Fyally, we come to the children — the chief product or 
th aome. Motherhood is a whole profession in itself. It is 
universally admitted that the first years of a child’s life, 
during which it is entirely dependent upon its mother, are the 
most important from the physical, mental, and moral stand- 
point. The care and training ot children should indeed be a 
most sacred trust, demanding adequate preparation. 

I have only outlined very briefly, some of the most import- 
ant subjects included in the professicn of home-making, for 
as said in the beginning, the subject is limitless — and my 


time is short. 
The Home-maker of To-day 


So much, or rather so little, for the New Professton of 
Home-Making. What is the attitude of women in general 
towards it? It must be admitted that home-making has not 
kept pace with our tremendous industrial advancement. I 
think that nearly all agree that the average new home-maker 
of to-day is less thoroughly prepared for her business in life 
than the young woman of a generation or two ago. As yet, 
educators do not seem to find room in the educational scheme 
to provide this knowledge and our complexity of life seems to 
leave no opportunity for training by the mother, even though 
she be competent to give it. It is true that the majority of 
home-makers finally achieve some sort of mastery over their 
problem; experience is a good teacher, even though a hard 
one. It must be confessed, however, that standards are not 
very high and that there is a good deal of complacency on the 
part of the average home-maker. 

The reason is not far to seek. We hear much nowadays 
of trusts and monopolies, but there is no monopoly equal to 
that in the profession of home-making, for the home-maker 
has absolutely no competition. The efficiency of the home- 


maker is what she chooses to .nake it. That is in the nacure 
of the case, for home-making ts a natural monopoly and must 
always be so. 

To be sure, there is a certain amount of rivalry aloug some 
lines, chiefly however, in those things that the outside world 
may see. One great reason for the lack of interest, it seems - 
to me, is that home-makers in general, do not realize the 
possibilities of the work that is theirs, the help to be derived 
from the study of the subject. nor its great interest Of 
course, I am speaking in general, exceptions are many. 
Interest is growing and growing rapidly, and there is now a 
small proportion of -home-makers who are willing to give 
time to the study of their life work. willing even te pay 
money for assistance 


The Home-Maker of To-morrow 


There is nu profession that compares with the profession of 
home-making in the possibilities for improvement of the race 
— physical, mental, moral. The millennium awaits only the 
perfect home. 

Your husband has a money value of from $50,000 to 
$500,000 or more, capitalizing his earning capacity at five per 
cent interest. Your child is worth — all that you have, and 
you would willingly give it. You have the chief care of the 
life, the health, the happiness of these valuable beings. 

Isn’t is worth while to study the profession of home-making 
from a precautionary standpoint alone? Worth while to 
know the ounce of prevention — which only you can apply — 
more valuable than pounds of cure. 

It is for you club women to take the lead in this movement, 
for advancement must come from above. And do not be 
satisfied with demonstration lectures on cookery, valuable 
as they are, but study the new ‘Profession of Home- 
making’’ from the standpoint of your own home. Take it 
up as thoroughly as you have history, literature, art, etc. 
Believe me, you will find it an interesting, profitable study 
of even greater broadening, cultural value. 


THE PROFESSION OF HOME 
MAKING 


By Hexen M. Day, B. S. 


Professor of Home Economics, Bradley Institute, Peoria, IIl. 


Address delivered before the Illinois Domestic Science Association. 


I was so pleased on coming to Illinois to find an association 
of domestic science in existence, and to know that the women 
of the State were banded together for the purpose of making 
a study of the work in which I am so much interested — that 
of domestic science and the art of home-making. It has been 
a pleasure to hear the flattering report just given of the progress 
which has been made during the ten years of the existence of this 
association. 

I feel sure that the women who have been engaged in the 
study of home-making have grown to feel that it is a profession, 
a thing of so great importance that it calls for years of careful 
preparation, and earnest study, not a thing which may be 
entered upon at any time, by any person without the slightest 
training. That this is not the view taken of the matter by the 
majority of people is, I am sure, apparent to all of us. We are 
all familiar with the general impression that a girl may grow 
up without any knowledge of cooking and housework, and yet 
fall into domestic ways and be a perfect home-maker when the 
proper time comes, quite as naturally as a child catches the 
whooping cough, and quite as inevitably. Such a belief is not 
unnatural, especially among people who are in the habit of 
taking their opinions as they are handed down from generation 
to generation. Women always have kept house — hence the 
conclusion that home-keeping is women’s natural province, 
for the duties of which no especial training is necessary. 

In the days gone by, however, there was special training for 
the work of home-keeping. In fact, if we look back into the 
history of our own country, we come to a time when there was 
not much for a girl to do except to stay at home and learn and 
practice household occupations. In colonia] times the girl’s 

9 


? 


opportunities for what we now speak of as “‘an education’ 
were very limited. Instruction in reading and writing and 
possibly a little arithmetic was supposed to give ample exer- 
cise for her mental powers and there was plenty of time to spin 
and weave, bake and brew and become proficient in the things 
that were then considered the necessary part of a girl’s educa- 
tion. In those days marriage was acknowledged to be the 
chief end of woman, and it was thought worth while to prepare 
for the duties of home-keeping. : 


Changed Position of Women 


Since that time a great change has taken place in the position 
of woman in the world. Gradually at first, and then with 
great rapidity these changes have come about, due partly to 
increased educational opportunities and partly to changed 
economic and social conditions, until to-day woman stands on 
an equality with man and practically economically independent 
of him. She may enter any profession or engage in any trade 
or occupation that is open to men except those requiring too 
great physical strength. She may be a doctor, a lawyer, a 
rainister, a teacher, a clerk, a bookkeeper, a stenographer, a 
factory hand, a dentist or a farmer — but notwithstanding all 
those possibilities, what she really does in nine cases out of ten 
is to marry and become a home-keeper, just as she did when 
there was nothing else for her todo. Inother words, the train- 
ing of women to-day fits them for everything except for that 
which is to be their real business in life, namely, the making of 
homes. Still the world is full of sanguine people who say, 
‘‘Oh, a girl can easily learn how to cook and keep house when 
she has to do it. It will come to her in time,’’ and perhaps it 
may to a certain extent. 

It is quite possible that a smart, business-like girl who sets 
about it in the right way may, after many tribulations and 
much waste of time, energy and money, be able to do things 
as well as her mother did them. But we may pause to inquire 
whether we have not a right to expect more of a home-keeper 
of this generation than that she shall do things as well as her 
mother did. In the light of advancement in science during the 
past twenty-five or thirty years, may we not expect some corre- 
spondins advance in methods of conducting this home? 

10 


Home Making and Ferming 


Let us look for a moment at the changes in methods of agri- 
culture brought about through the study and application of 
the sciences of chemistry and biology. Would any scientific 
farmer of the present generation be satisfied to do things exactly 
as his father or grandfather did them? He certainly would 
not. To-day he studies the needs of the crop to be raised and 
satisfies these demands in the kind of soil provided. He rotates 
crops to prevent impoverishing the soil. He studies the needs 
of the stock and gives them food of proper sort and in the right 
amounts to produce the best results. He is not afraid of the 
terms protein, carbohydrate and fat, or the ‘‘balanced ration,” 
but he studies these things deliberately and persistently in order 
to get the best results with the least expenditure. 


Children as Important as Live Stock 

Is a child of less importance than a calf, that we take so much 
less trouble to have it nourished properly, or is it simply that 
women have not wakened to the possibilities and to their re- 
sponsibility in the matter? Not only the body of the child, 
but his mental development also is influenced by the nutrients 
he receives. A few years ago it was noted in a school in New 
York City that certain children seemed deficient in mental 
qualities. Upon investigation it was found that they were 
insufficiently fed Proper nourishment was supplied and in a 
very short time it became evident that there was no mental 
incapacity whatever, simply that lack of proper nutriment. 

Another thing that science has done for agriculture and 
should do for house-keeping is to make it so interesting that 
dull routine is changed into pleasurable activity. I once heard 
aman say that if when he was a boy planting potatoes on the 
farm, he had known some of the wonderful things about plant 
life—the ability to take matter from the soil, choosing this and 
rejecting that, and through the agency of the sun’s rays trans- 
forming these inert substances into living matter-—if he had 
known only a few of these things it would have given interest 
and pleasure to what had been mere drudgery So I have 
thought a girl must feei when she discovers that the ordinary 
processes of cooking and cleaning are based upon scientific 
truths of physics and chemistry. The same process may be 

11 


drudgery to one person and pleasure to another according to 
the amount of interest and understanding there is back of ic. 


Interesting Routine 


A certain amount of routine work is undoubtedly necessary 
in all professions, but it should not be the dominant thing, it 
should be merely a means to an end. The scientific farmer 
does not complain of the dull routine of his life —he is too 
much interested in what is happening, in the results ahead. 
It seems to me it should be so, also, with the housekeeper. 
Then, too, a man puts his wits to work and invents some pieces 
of machinery to do routine work for him. Perhaps women 
may gradually become more inventive and think up ways and 
means of minimizing the routine work of the house. Some 
labor-saving devices have already been invented, chiefly, 
however, by men. | 

In thinking what science has done for the farmer I am re- 
minded of that little poem of Edward Markham’s, ‘*The Man 
with the Hoe,” beginning: 


“Bowed by the weight of Centuries, he leans 
Upon his hoe and gazes upon the ground, 
The emptiness of ages in his face 
And on his back the burden of the world.” 


This refers, of course, to the peasant of Europe, not the farm- 
ing class in this country, but to a certain degree it was appli- 
cable to the conditions here before the influence of science 
became felt and furnished the answer to the concluding lines 


of the peem: 


“ How will you ever straighten up this shape, 
Touch it again with im:mortality 

Give back the upward looking and the light, 
Rebuild in it the music and the dream?”’ 


Is it not true that science has transformed the man with the 
hoe? Has it not given back the upward looking at the light 
by putting interest and understanding in the place of dull 
routine? Modern inventions, too, have helped to emancipate 
him. He is now the man with the sulky plow getting the best 
results with the smallest amount of labor on his part. 


‘“*The Woman with the Broom”’ 

If we carry out the parallel we have suggested between agri- 
culture and housekeeping, we may picture for ourselves ‘‘The 
‘Woman with the Broom:’’ a woman so bowed down by the 

14 


weight of hard routine work of cleaning that she has no time 
or thought for higher things or enjoyment, and no pleasure in 
the work itself. Can we not imagine her emancipation through — 
the application of science to every-day affairs? There is a 
pneumatic cleaning apparatus by means of which all dirt and 
dust may be drawn through tubes into receptacles in the base- 
ment, which will some day come into general use. 

There is no particular merit in sweeping, scrubbing, dusting, 
except to have the house sanitary and comfortable, and if we 
can get the same result by scientific means with less labor, we 
are making progress. 


Household Education 

Changes such as these can come about only through education. 
The object of education in domestic economy is set forth in 
these words: First ‘‘The utilization of all the resources of 
modern science in improving home life.’”’ This implies the 
necessity of understanding the sciences and also home life, and 
the application of one to the other Secondly, ‘‘The freedom 
of the home from the dominance of things and their due sub- 
ordination to ideals.” This presupposes that men and women 
have ideals of what a home should be and that they should 
choose between the things essential and those non-essential.”’ 
' Thirdly. ‘‘The simplicity in material surroundings which will 
free the spirit for the more permanent interests of home and 
society.”” These permanent interests of home and society 
form the distinctive thing in home-making as distinguished 
from housekeeping These are not synonymous terms by any 
means. There are many instances of housekeepers who are 
not home-makers. I remember reading a story of a woman 
who was such a house cleaner that she made the whole inside 
of her house so immaculate that her husband did not have a 
place where he might smoke his pipe in comfort. He finally 
retired to the hen house, cleaned it as well as he could and 
utilized it for his smoking-room. That woman was not a home- 
maker, though I presume her neighbors considered her an 
excellent housekeeper. 

Home-Making Versus Housekeeping 

A home-maker must be a housekeeper. or at least under- 

stand what good housekeeping is and have the faculty of getting 
18 


others to do the work. But to be a true home-maker a woman 
must be freed from material things sufficiently to have some 
time for the more permanent interests of home and society. 
What are these interests? Surely not playing bridge whist, 
reading fight literature, attending cheap theaters, or gossiping 
with one’s neighbors. ‘ 

The permanent interests of home are the making of better 
men and women by surrounding the children in the home with 
those things which shall tend to their best development physi- 
cally, mentally and morally. 

The permanent interests of society are the carrying of i inspira 
tion to other homes, furnishing information needed for the 
betterment of mankind. So long as there is suffering to be 
relieved, ignorance to be instructed, hunger to be satisfied, 
fallen to be uplifted, the interest of society will be sufficient 
to take up our spare time. The study of domestic economy 
leads to the study of sociology. 

For those who are seriously entering upon home-making as 
a profession — those who are to be the leaders — there are the 
courses offered by the agricultural college of the State univer- 
sity. Through the efforts of these organizations girls who 
desire to take advantage of short courses may learn a great 
deal in a limited time, beginning with general courses in domestic 
economy and leading to advanced work in the sciences, eco- 
nomics and sociology. 


Domestic Science in the Schools 


Most of the girls, however, who will become home-makers 
have no opportunity for a college course; indeed, many of them 
will never reach the high school, but must learn what they 
know, or at least must be set thinking in the right direction in 
the grammar schools. One advantage of having domestic 
science as a part of a general education is that it puts it on a 
basis with other school subjects, and so dignifies the work, 
which in so many minds lacks the dignity of book learning. I 
think there is not a very good understanding at present of what 
is just being aimed at in teaching domestic science. We some- 
times hear mothers complain because girls are not able to do 
wonderful things in a short time. They expect them to be 
ai*° to bake a cake or pie in about three lessons. They would 

14 


not expect such progress in arithmetic — they know the child 
could not jump into fractions withing a few weeks. There must 
be a basis prepared. We must remember that cooking in the 
grades is in the first place a form of manual training. When 
the child takes up cooking it is usually the first work she has 
done with her hands. I have often seen girls sixteen or eigh- 
teen years old not able to beat an egg — they simply could not 
get the motion of the wrist. Their muscles had not been trained. 
In the second place, cooking is a form of applied science. The 
girls are to know the reason for things — not merely to cook 
or do the work. It is just as important to know why anything 
is done as it is how to do it. 

I think it is perhaps true that mothers frequently do not 
encourage their girls enough; they are inclined to laugh at their 
first efforts — they will say, ‘‘Is that what you learn at your 
cooking school?”” This is entirely wrong. We should en- 
courage them, praise them, and endeavor to cultivate a desire 
for more knowledge and experience both at home and at the 
school, for in that way they can only become adepts. We cannot 
expect to turn out trained cooks in a few weeks with one hour’s 
lesson a week. It takes a long time at that rate to teach a 
child to cook. So the mothers should have the child practice 
at home putting the knowledge and learning into effect in 
actual service. For this is the third object of teaching cook- 
ing, to make the child a useful member of society. 


The Business of Life 


It is impossible to train a child entirely for the great business 
of life during the first twelve or fourteen years of his existence, 
but we start him in the proper direction. Be patient and con- 
tent when it is apparent that there is an added interest in house- 
hold affairs. What we should aim to do is to furnish the in- 
spiration to do these things, the knowledge of how to do them, 
with the underlying reasons. 


‘Such knowledge is rapidly creeping into schools and colleges 
but too late for us, and we don’t want to be left behind by school- 
girls.”’— Miss M. L. G., New Haven, Conn. 


wg 


Remember! 


HAT ten billions of dollars are expended annually in the 
United States for food, clothing, and shelter—with greater 
knowledge and efficiency, better satisfaction could be obtained 
and one billion dollars saved for higher things. 


HAT half a million lives are cut short and five million people 
are made ill by “preventable” diseases every year—with 
universal knowledge of hygiene and sanitation nearly all deaths 
and illness from such causes could be prevented. 


HAT six hundred thousand infants under two years end their 
little span of life yearly, while millions of children fail to 
reach their best physical development because their mothers ~ 
and fathers understand not how to care for them in the light 
of science—with more knowledge at least half the number 
of babies could be saved and the physical standard raised 
immeasurably. 


HAT thousands of homes are wrecked, tens of thousands of 
lives are ruined, and hundreds of thousands are made unhappy 
because the home-keepers of our country have no training 
in the greatest of all professions, the “profession of home- 
making and motherhood”—only through such education can 
present domestic difficulties be solved and the modern home 
contribute all that it should to happiness and well being. 


HAT all must live in some sort of a home—that everyone 
finds his chief happiness there—that character is developed 
there —that no great advance, spiritual or material, is possible 
which does not begin with the home—that the home-makers 
of America have the making of the nation. 


HAT on the breadth and strength of the base depends the 
height of a pinnacle—on the home foundation we rear the 
pinnacle of all that is good in state or individual. 


— American School of Home Economics 


